(Exalted: Snake in the Grass) Ch. 2 City In Terror

[Tenshi]

Two weeks later, ambling their way north, wherever their feet lead them, Challenger and Clarity came upon a point where the road veered east—into fields of hardy barely and potatoes--and joined up with a road running roughly east-west.

Following the road, a well crafted enclosed sleigh—mounted on wheels and drawn by three reindeer—approached them from behind. A tall, burly man of the North sat in the driver's seat, tidily cuddling with a petite, coffee skinned exotic beauty from the distant south. Before he'd met Clarity, Challenger might have fancied her the darkest complected girl he'd ever seen.

Over the next half hour, the farmland grew thicker. Men working the fields—freeholders all—glanced at the passing pair nervelessly. A few nervously glanced at the daggers on their belts, and Challenger could tell from their stance that more than one was pondering using a hoe, pitchfork, or spade to defend themselves. There was no shortage of places in their travels where Clarity was given nervous looks, or even where startled men and maids stumbled out into the street to avoid her.

* * *​

Felindra and Carnelian Skies expected to reach their destination, Knoth, to deliver diplomatic missives and trade contracts. Up ahead of them, a fit man in a fighter's gi walked side by side with a super-humanly beautiful girl so dark of completion she seemed to be a living statue of black jade and purest obsidian. Way up the road, they could make out a castle on a hilltop surrounded by a prosperous town.

Carnelian cuddles his Felnidra close and bent down to kiss her softly on the lips. “Who do you suppose those two are?” he asked when his eyes went back up the road. “Do girls get that dark where you come from?”

Up ahead, a baker's dozen soldiers in reinforced buff jackets came up the road, marching with shields and spears, swords and truncheons on their belts.

* * *​

Challenger and Clarity got a closer look at the soldiers. All thirteen pairs of eyes focused on them under open helms with nose guards. They moved forwards with conviction...

 

[Junior]

The expansive fields had Challenger's mind drifting to thoughts of food, sparking a slight pang of hunger in his stomach and reminding him that it would be wise to stock up on provisions soon. After a brief conversation with Clarity, he decided to follow the road that ran through them, figuring that all this farmland must belong to a community that they could barter with. He bothered with little more than a glance at the riders behind him before stepping to the side so that the two could pass on their presumably faster mode of transport.

Challenger was used to people getting out of the way as he walked toward, right by, or anywhere near him. Even at his most idle or bored, the man's eyes shone with an inhuman intensity and purpose. None of the farmers came close, so he ignored them, although he did begin to walk a little closer to his traveling companion. In a way, Challenger understood their fear. Had he seen Clarity just a few years ago, when his body only held one very young soul, he would have found her beauty as frightening as it was captivating.

He watched the soldiers for a while, making sure they weren't there for the pair in the sleigh before giving them some acknowledgment. This came in the form of him dropping his pack, cracking his knuckles, and popping his neck slowly to the left. The stiffness in his joints caused by the North's cold added a degree of volume to these motions. It was their move.

 

[EmyStorm]

Felindra smiled and kiss Carnelian back smiling. "Where I came from, we all are dark like I am, honey. It's due to the ever burning sun". She took a look at the men's coming toward them and smile "I don't know honey, you know I don't really like meeting new people when I am human and now it to late to change they already saw me. But they seem like foreigner like me. What do you think they are here for ?".